history

• Goals of Psychology

  • To describe behavior
  • To identify factors that help predict behavior
  • To understand or explain behavior by identifying causes that bring about effects
  • To control or change behavior
• Psychology


  The science of studying human and animal behavior
• Psychology


  The study of human behavior, about how and why people behave, feel or think the way they do
• Psychology


  The science that studies behavior and mental processes
• Psychology


  The science of behavior and experience
• Science


  A Discipline that uses systematic observation and experimentation to describe, explain, and predict events in the world
• Behavior


  Any activity that can be observed
• Experience


  Feelings, thoughts, and perceptions
• Scientific Method


  The procedures that help make observations more objective, precise, and reliable
• Theory


  A general explanation of how things work based on a number of systematic observations
• Hypothesis


  An expectation, based on a theory, of how something will behave under specific circumstances
• Operational Definition


  A description of particular procedures and measurement used in an experiment, which define the concepts being studied
• The universal symbol for the discipline of psychology is the pitchfork shaped image
• The theory that the psychology symbol is related to the trident carried by the devil is incorrect
• Hippocrates


  • Known for his unconventional idea on the occurrence of disease
  • Biological malfunctions, not demons can cause mental illness
  • Used empirical observation for medical research and data gathering
• Plato


  • The mind resides within the brain
  • Reality can be found in the ideal and not in the objects that are recognized by our senses
• Aristotle


  • Empiricism – human knowledge can be attained in two ways: (1) through the use of human senses and (2) through introspective awareness, that is, by experience
  • Reality rests upon the concrete and tangible object. For him, Plato's abstract form was only a representation of tangible materials
• Rene Descartes


  • Cartesian Dualism- Mind and body operate under different principles and should be studied by different specialists
  • The Father of Modern Philosophy
• John Locke


  • Tabula Rasa – blank slate
  • Optimistic view of human nature: Man is naturally good
• Immanuel Kant


  • Both rationalist and empiricist approach are essential to understand complex mental process
  • Reconciled the issue between monism (the fusion of mind and body) and dualism
• Charles Darwin


  • Theory of Evolution. Emphasized the continuity between animal and human development, and implied that the psychological activities of human beings could be studied scientifically
• Wilhelm Wundt


  • The Father of Scientific Psychology
  • Built the first psychology laboratory in 1879
  • Conducted research in areas ranging from memory and consciousness to cross-cultural comparison
• Natural Selection


  The process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, change in climate, competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations